Tributes paid to Matt McCormack, trainer of dual Royal Ascot hero Horage

Matt McCormack, the Lambourn trainer who will be forever associated with Coventry and St James's Palace Stakes hero Horage, has died at the age of 82.

McCormack's best seasonal tally of winners was 22 in a career spanning 17 years and he had his finest hour when Horage landed the 1983 St James's Palace Stakes. He enjoyed further Royal Ascot success with Night Of Wind and Prince Ferdinand in the 1980s.

Horage was one of a batch of cheaply bought yearlings with whom McCormack was saddled after a would-be investor vanished. He ran up a sequence of nine successes as a two-year-old, including the Coventry Stakes at Ascot and Newmarket's July Stakes, which he won despite twisting a racing plate.

Following a disappointing run in the Mill Reef Stakes, Horage was put away for the winter with a Timeform rating of 123, although most commentators wrote him off before his three-year-old career.

A disappointing reappearance at Thirsk appeared to confirm that view before Horage roared back to form under an inspired front-running ride from Steve Cauthen at Ascot.

McCormack's longtime friend, the former broadcaster and journalist John Hanmer, recalled "an irrepressible Irishman and a very nice fellow".

He said: "He came over quite young to work as a lad in the north and worked for several trainers including Percy Vasey, before going down to Newmarket and working for Noel Murless and Bernard van Cutsem.

"Then he went to Peter Walwyn, who in those days was very big and had three main yards. They were run by Ray Laing, Matty and Alan Bailey. They were in charge and they all became trainers with considerable success.

"Matty set up on his own and he wasn't an instant success. But particularly when Horage came along, he blossomed."

McCormack maintained a string of around 20 horses until 1996, when market forces and a lack of support from wealthier owners forced him to retire at the age of just 56.

Hanmer recalled: "In his words, Matt said, 'I could compete training ten grand horses against 100 grand horses. But when it came to training 20 grand horses against £1 million horses, it was too much against me'."

Horage ran in the colours of Lebanese businessman Abel Rachid and was named after the French word for storm 'orage', as he was by Tumbledown Wind.

Broadcasters vied with one another to establish different pronunciations, with BBC colleagues Julian Wilson opting for a long ending, and Sir Peter O'Sullevan rhyming the name with 'porridge'.

Matt McCormack pictured at Goodwood racesCredit: Smith Phil

Hanmer recalls teasing McCormack with the latter rendition, arguing that "if it's good enough for Peter O'Sullevan it's good enough for me".

There was no doubting the toughness and the talent of Horage. Hanmer said: "I was booking Steve Cauthen’s rides in those days. Matt always liked his horses ridden from the front and Steve was an expert from the front."

McCormack retired to Cornwall but returned to the Lambourn area to be nearer to his three daughters.